‘It’s going to be a flagship location’

If anyone knows how to open new retail locations, it’s Boyd Group Services Inc.

The Winnipeg-based collision repair chain is one of the largest operators of collision repair shops in North America with $2.4 billion in revenue in 2022, but after letting the lease run out on its former corporate headquarters in Westwood — which also housed a collision repair shop — four years ago, it has been searching for another location that could service the western part of the city.

It finally signed a lease and started the leaseholds on a building at the high-profile corner of Moray Street and Portage Avenue, the site of a couple of former auto dealerships, including the original location of the very first Birchwood dealership.

Boyd has some specific needs for its locations so it has to be picky and Ryan Kehl, the company’s regional operations manager in Manitoba, said there weren’t a lot of properties available.

“We did have another location we were interested in, but we ended up losing out to an auto dealership,” he said.

While the old Birchwood GM and Lone Star Mercedes Benz and, most recently, Birchwood Credit location has been vacant for a few years, it boasts a prominent location on Portage Avenue at the bridgehead to Charleswood, a neighbourhood that Boyd does not have a current location in.

At 21,000 square feet, it will be twice the average size of the other 12 Boyd locations in Manitoba. This will be the company’s 10th in its hometown, along with locations in Brandon, Selkirk and Steinbach.

Given the fantastic location, along with the realization that Boyd was going to need some specialty services to take the load off other Winnipeg Boyd shops — things such as electric vehicle repair, digital calibration services and some mechanical services — Kehl knew it was not going to be too big for the company’s requirements. And because of the company’s inability to find other opportunities, it was going to have to service a population of about 70,000 in the area.

Kehl also knew it was the perfect spot for the company to show its colours.

“It’s going to be a flagship location,” said Kehl. “I mean, it’s perfect, right at the corner of Moray and Portage. We’re going to sign the heck out of it.”

Still, for a company with 870 locations in Canada and the U.S., in 32 states and four provinces — from the beginning of this year to the end of March, the company added 23 collision locations, including 16 through acquisition and seven start-ups — it’s surprising that it would take three years to negotiate a lease.

But the substantial size and age of the building and the significant reconfiguration that will be required meant it took some time to complete the deal.

“Everything took time, but both parties wanted to do the deal and eventually everyone agreed,” said Bob Antymniuk, senior director of sales and leasing for Capital Commercial Real Estate Services Inc., the leasing broker on the deal.

The landlord, Ladco Company Ltd., owns much of the block on the south side of Portage Avenue, east of Moray Street, including the land next door neighbours PartSource and the Holiday Inn Winnipeg Airport West is on.

Alan Borger, president of Ladco, would not comment specifically about Boyd moving in to the corner lot, but said because of his company’s long history with the property, they are very sensitive about what takes place there.

“I have a four-star hotel that we invested $10 million in a few years before the pandemic. Obviously anything we do there is going to be beautiful,” he said.

Boyd would not say how much they’re spending on the new location, but as Kehl said, it will be a flagship location with facilities that will effectively ease the pressure off the company’s other Winnipeg locations, which are currently experiencing about a two-month backlog.

“This shop is set to open toward the end of the year which should be good timing for the winter collision repair season,” he said.

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